District braces for decreased revenue next year

Luverne School Board members accepted the decline in the local levy for 2021 at their Dec. 17 meeting along with a larger-than-expected decline in enrollment.
Both issues could result in budget adjustments for the 2021-22 school year.
Board members set the state-determined levy at $3.905 million for 2021, which represents a 4.4-percent decrease ($180,000 less than this year’s levy).
In 2020 the district levied $4.084 million for the 2019-20 budget of more than $17 million.
Business manager Marlene Mann outlined the revenue declines at the annual Truth in Taxation hearing.
The local levy makes up about 23.9 percent of the district’s annual revenue.
The majority (70.9 percent) is received from state aid, which uses student enrollment and preschool census numbers to determine how much money the district will receive each year.
Federal programs (3.8 percent) and local sales tax and other sources (1.4 percent) make up the rest of the district’s revenue sources.
“As I am putting the (revised) budget together, we will probably have about $500,000 less in general education monies than we were anticipating,” Mann said.
“It will be something for us to monitor and how our enrollment turns out and how it shakes out.”
Pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade enrollment for the current school year was at 1,202.
The enrollment for the upcoming school year is expected to drop to 1,149 students.
Superintendent Craig Oftedahl said the district doesn’t track the exact reasons students leave the district, but this year’s coronavirus pandemic had many parents leaving for other opportunities.
 “We know where they (the students) go. We don’t necessarily know why unless we hear that,” Oftedahl said.
“At lot of times it is parent-driven because of jobs.”
This year parents could also opt to enroll their students in an online academy or school from home.
Each option affects the amount of revenue the district receives annually.
The current year’s general education state aid formula allows $6,438 per student, which Mann said hasn’t kept up with inflation. The per-pupil allowance increases to $6,567 for the upcoming school year.
“There are other things tied to it as well, so by the time we get through the cycle of putting in what a student actually generates, it’s a little over $8,000,” she said. “We have a negative.”
The district’s revised budget summary will be presented to board members in January.